Piner, the long-time planning director and the go-to person when town commissioners push a manager out the door, has finally decided this might be the right time to pursue the top job herself.

Twice now, Piner has served as the town’s interim manager. The time before that, she was an invaluable right arm for Wayne Deal as he babysat the town manager’s seat between Tim Burgess’s departure and David Bone’s arrival.

Chances are Piner wouldn’t have pursued the position this time either, except for one very significant difference.

Two of the five members of the town board responsible for hiring and firing the town manager left their posts earlier this month following November elections.

Sid Baynes and Carol Hinnant, as we’ve reported in the news pages of this paper, were among the most vocal board members when it came to regular open-session business. And it stands to reason that, in closed session, they were likely the most outspoken participants as well.

The likely de facto leader of the new board is Commissioner Ira Fuller, who has a long resume as a town manager himself.

Few elected leaders are as likely as Fuller to know what the manager’s position requires and few are likely to have expectations as reasonable as Fuller would.

That makes him a good boss – not an easy boss, necessarily, but a good one.

Piner probably gets that and she probably appreciates the opportunity to work for what figures to be a more stable town board for the foreseeable future.

Piner’s interest in the position, of course, doesn’t mean she’s a shoo-in for the position.

Commissioners seem willing to consider that option, but they haven’t closed the door on an all-out search for a new manager.

The town is hampered, of course, by the fact that it has acquired a reputation among potential outside candidates as a burial ground for managers.

Good candidates from outside, despite the fact they may know about the turnover in board seats, are likely to be wary of applying simply because they don’t know the political landscape like Piner does.

At the moment it may be best for Wendell to look in house for a strong candidate, rehabilitate its reputation as a good place for managers to work and let the dust of the last four years settle for a while.

There are a great many issues facing the town right now, from reaching an agreement with the city of Raleigh on plans to get the town’s water merger financials straightened out, to finding space for a cramped staff and working with the owners of Wendell Falls to get that development off the shelf again.

Piner has an intimate knowledge of nearly all those issues and town commissioners wouldn’t likely have to wait a long time for her to get up to speed and start making concrete recommendations. Fortunately for the town, this figures to be a group that is much more likely than past boards to listen to the advice of their professional staff. It’s an attribute Piner has likely recognized.